Microtex 666 was an Australian Prestel-based Videotex system that operated from 1986 to 1989. The service was accessed through a text based dialup service from

Telecom Australia Telstra Group Limited is an Australian telecommunications company that builds and operates telecommunications networks and markets voice, mobile, internet access, pay television and other products and services. It is a member of the S&P/ASX 20 ...

known as

Viatel Viatel is a Dublin-based telecoms operator. Viatel was founded in 1991 by Martin Varsavsky. In 1994, it went public on the Nasdaq stock exchange. Four years later, Varsavsky sold his stake in Viatel for US$200 million and left the company. I ...

. Microtex 666 was dedicated to microcomputer enthusiasts and included a large software download library, a semi-realtime online chat, and a 1,000-user massively multiuser game known as the

Great Galactic Conflict The Great Galactic Conflict, or GGC for short, was a turn based Massively Multiplayer Online Game (MMOG) which was available in Australia around 1985. The game was accessed through a text based dialup service from Telecom Australia (later Tels ...

. It was owned and founded by

Sean Howard Sean Martin Howard is an Australian entrepreneur, founder of OzEmail, at one time Australia's largest Internet company. In the 1980s Howard founded '' Australian Personal Computer'', Australia's top-selling computer magazine. He also developed ...

, and promoted through '' Australian Personal Computer'' magazine. For much of its existence, Microtex 666 was externally managed by Scott Sanderson at Information Solutions, which also sold a package consisting of modem plus software, since few people owned modems at that time. Microtex 666 was eventually purchased by Telecom. Howard went on to found

OzEmail OzEmail was a major Internet service provider (ISP) in Australia, until it was acquired by iiNet on 28 February 2005. History In the early 1980s, Sean Howard was the editor of the '' Australian Personal Computer'' magazine and subsequently fou ...

, Australia's largest ISP.

References

{{Videotex Videotex Telstra History of telecommunications in Australia